The Cloud
by autumnassassin
Summary: Ron has always felt adrift. He doesn't realize why until he's dropped in a world that isn't his own and struggles to survive. Or, what if it wasn't Harry who became Skull, but Ron?


Dang. This just wouldn't end! I started it on a plane ride back home after a funeral and it just kept coming, and so instead of being a short thing, it ended up being ten pages long. Basically, everyone always places Harry or Teddy as Skull, but I wanted to try someone else as Skull, and suddenly, it became Ron. It was a fun ride! Enjoy!

Quick update (Aug 10), this story now has a companion to go along with it- check out The Mist following Lavender's side of the story!

* * *

After the war, things are different. Ron goes into the aurors, does what he's supposed to do, but it wears him down and he eventually leaves, going to the joke shop with George. But then even that is too much, and Ron finds himself asking Harry if he can use his godfather's motorcycle. Harry looks at him, a funny look on his face, but nods and says go ahead.

It's an interesting couple of months. Ron learns how to work the muggle motorcycle, and then finds that there exist different kinds of motorcycles and he learns to thrive on motorcycles, trying more and more elaborate things as his newfound muggle friends cheer him on.

Then they introduce him to the circus and the whole idea has Ron balking on one level, but then he shrugs and dives head first into this world.

He finds a new name to use, because Ron the Flying Stuntman doesn't sound cool.

He thinks a lot about it, and then after one stunt when he only makes it through due to some well-timed magic, and the circus starts calling him immortal.

He laughs at that and then pauses, because why not? He isn't around anymore, and it would probably annoy him so much.

And so he picks a new name and becomes Skull de Mort.

Harry laughs incredibly hard when Ron tells him his new name and Ron considers his job as best mate fulfilled for the day.

* * *

Then he gets an offer, and it's weird, and Ron doesn't really understand it, and so he says no, but then the man is picking him up by his collar, which is weird because Ron isn't short, but this man is holding him up perfectly fine and they are suddenly somewhere else, and the man is dropping him.

Ron staggers slightly as he curses, but the man is already gone, and Ron turns to find himself the center of attention. The first thing he registers is that these people are dangerous. They stare at him in such a manner that causes him to bristle

But Ron holds back his questions, his concerns, and instead just sits down. He can listen to whatever the heck this is and then apparate out. Easy-peasy.

* * *

Ron eventually wonders if Harry's luck is contagious. It hasn't been easy-peasy and now he is stuck for an indeterminate amount of time with this weird group because the man who originally brought him here, the Man in the Iron Hat, (and what sort of name was that? It was worse than Voldemort's!) keeps bringing him back when Ron tries to leave.

So Ron sucks it up and doesn't try to leave anymore (and if part of him sits and stockpiles supplies for when he does leave, well. That's his business and no one else's)

They go on missions and Ron barely understands what is going on, but goes along anyways, and then they introduce mafia things and flames of some sort, but not the magical kind, but purple ones instead and Ron stares long and hard when the others wield their different coloured flames and judges silently.

But it is apparently normal and when the others figure out that he doesn't know how to use his, which are apparently called Cloud Flames, they mock him at every turn before Viper takes pity on him and instructs him as best as they can and now Ron isn't as lost.

The mafia bit still confuses him though.

* * *

"What were you like before Skull?"

The question is asked innocently, Ron knows that. Knows that they all expect some throwaway answer about being raised in a circus or being a spoiled rich kid. Knows that Luce is just trying to get him to open up to the others so that way they can get along better.

But it's been a long day, a hard mission, and Ron is exhausted, so he just sighs a bit and answers, "I was a soldier."

And there's gaping and for once he manages to silence them before someone says incredulously, "What idiot would have you as their soldier?"

And that stings, that takes him back to the tent in the middle of the forest and all the bad memories along with it and Ron knocks back the rest of his drink and slams it down before answering, "The kind that just needed cannon fodder."

Then someone else speaks and Ron thinks it's Reborn, but can't concentrate long enough to figure who it is, he is barely managing to hold back his hatred as they say derisively, "Well, guess they found some good cannon fodder."

"Yes, because children make such good cannon fodder." Ron snaps back. No one responds to the venom in his tone and Ron stalks out of the house, magic and flames whipping inside him.

* * *

The others don't know what to do with him.

It's obvious in their reaction and Ron takes great pleasure in messing with them, watching as they are subject to stupid pranks and jokes, always, always ready to deal damage, but Ron had five brothers and a younger sister who were all equally ready to prank each other.

Reborn's hits still have nothing on when Fred and George turned his bear into a spider.

And Ron is so lost here. He gets the idea of why they are all together, why they're being forced to hang out outside of a mission, but at the same time his brain scrambles to understand. He's a civilian technically, he was never part of this world, and for someone to pick him up (literally) and drop him in a meeting full of dangerous people, and frankly they should have found someone else to do this…whatever it was.

There are times he stares at Luce, stares at the others, and has the sinking feeling that he is going to understand how Harry feels. Intimately.

But for now, he sees no way out. No way not to just disappear and not have anyone else be stuck in his place, and so he stays. He goes along with the missions, figuring out just what the heck his Flames are and how to use them, and stirs up the rest of the Arcobaleno.

* * *

It's painful when he's right.

There's something happening to his body, to his _soul_ and Ron is distantly aware that he is screaming, that something isn't right. That he shouldn't feel like he is, and when he finally comes back to himself, he is staring at the sky and goes to haul himself up only to freeze at the sight of himself.

He is an infant.

And then things go sideways from there, and Ron isn't sure what is happening, just knows that his body hurts all the time.

And then Luce, Luce looks terribly sad, but there's an expression on her face that just screams of, 'I had to do this so I don't feel sorry' and Ron feels anger sweep through him, feels his rage coming on and the last time he felt like this was when he had been wearing the locket for weeks, and Ron had been aware that the locket only augmented his anger, but it's different to feel it rise up all on its own, and Luce seems to be aware that something isn't right because she turns towards him, an expression on her face.

Ron bares his teeth at her and snarls.

He figures in a distant part of his brain that she probably had no choice, that she truly does think that she had to do it, but she didn't even bother to warn them.

She flinches away from him and Ron spins away, flames augmented by magic- but oh so _weak_ now, what happened?- and disappears into the house.

_She _insists that they stay for a bit, to make sure that nothing adverse happens, but Ron laughs in her face when she says that, because nothing adverse? How can there be nothing adverse that can be worse than this state.

Then she explains what happened. Why they look like this and everyone is upset and Ron just looks at her and then leaves the room in disgust.

He understands how Harry felt now.

He wishes he had done more for him.

* * *

Ron sits at the table, papers strewn around him as he tries to figure out how to word a letter to Bill. And Hermione. And Harry perhaps.

Because he isn't planning on sitting around waiting to die.

And those people are some of the most brilliant people he knows.

But of course, that's when Luce enters the room, aiming for the ethereal look but Ron knows Luna and so Luce just looks like she's faking it and asks about what he is doing.

Ron looks at her and then carefully says it, so she can't misunderstand, "I'm asking my friends about how to break the curse."

Luce looks like someone has just stabbed her and she makes an aborted motion towards the stack of papers.

She tries to get him to not send anything. Explains why he can't because it's important, why he has to go along with it, but Ron isn't known for backing down and so he looks at her, and even though he's currently the size of an infant, he tells her to make him, that he will fight her over this, pregnant or not.

She draws herself up- another reminder that she keeps her current size, but will instead die early and Ron cannot decide which he would prefer- and says in a tone that Ron hates, that he absolutely cannot and she will get Checkerface involved if need be.

Ron stares at her for a long time.

He registers that the others are now paying close attention, that they are listening in because surely they were going to do the same thing because none of them were happy with their current state, but Luce sounds serious, and all of them are wary of Checkerface.

Ron decides to say something that he never regrets.

"Screw you," and then leaves the kitchen, walking past her stunned expression and the other Arcobaleno and goes to his room. Packs his bags, and then walks out the door, ignoring any and all attempts from Luce to get him to stay.

* * *

The Arcobaleno cross paths semi-often. And since they are the only ones like each other, they learn things about each other. Lal did her best to pretend that everything was normal. But was willing to help any of them at a moment's notice. Reborn ended up with a lisp, but if/when pointed out, would proceed to beat the person up. Verde lost any respect for pranks, throwing himself into research instead.

Skull had dates.

There were dates throughout the year that everyone learned to not disturb him on. It didn't matter how important the need was, he refused to interact with anyone.

May 2nd, July 31st, and Halloween.

Viper once turned up at his newest apartment and patiently knocked on the door, waiting until Skull had whipped open the door to snarl at them, and asked if the Cloud would like some company.

The answer had been a door in their face.

Ron had grieved by himself for years. Being cursed wouldn't change that fact.

* * *

Verde once asks him about his Flames- having cornered him at some mafia function they both ended up at- why they don't manifest like everyone else's, and Ron gives him a bit of background.

"You know, no one ever explained to me the concept of a Cloud territory. You taught me the basics of what they were and how to use them, but that's it. So no one explained to me how when you aren't aware of them, they can take control of you and make you do irrational things. I turned my back on my best friend, my Sky, twice because we didn't know about Flames."

"Where is your Sky?"

Ron is silent for a long time, staring at nothing in front of him. Finally he answers in a monotone voice, "Dead."

There is silence after his declaration.

And it's true. Harry had stepped into that forest and died and then come back, but everything was different. There was something different about him. They were still connected, still best mates, but Ron knew now that their bond was broken.

Ron hasn't dared to see if Harry has formed new ones.

Luna had found him afterwards and said something Luna-like that had Ron staring after her and then he had left.

"_The Sky died and came back. His elements can't be the same because he is no longer the same."_

And so Ron wondered. And then he wandered.

Verde raises his hand, hesitates, and then puts it on his shoulder, patting once before he moves off, scribbling something into his notebook as he went. Ron salutes his back before leaving in the opposite direction. He has had enough of this mafia function.

* * *

The years after the Curse are torture, Ron wanders like he has never done so before, doing his best to continue on living, but it is never enough and the other Arcobaleno react in different ways and Ron finds himself retreating into the image that he presents to the other Arcobaleno.

Ron joins some random family when the others insist that he needs some sort of protection, mainly under the guise of hits and shots, and so Ron picks one and runs with it. He has no idea what he's doing, no idea what he should be doing.

He abuses his position as someone who's supposed to be famous and amazing to drag the Carcassa family around on his adventures, pranking the other Arcobaleno. He loves pulling one over on Reborn, even if no one realizes it beyond Ron, but Colonello is the easiest and the most low-key and so Ron leads the Carcassa family to siege Mafia Island and he gets in trouble, but it is so worth it to see Colonello running around.

He doesn't contact his family, doesn't contact any old friends, he doesn't want them to come into contact with Checkerface. He hears through the grapevine of his siblings getting married, of Hermione marrying Viktor, and some part of him rages at it, but it's been too long for him to get mad, he has no right anymore, and so he steals a fancy expensive bottle of wine from some pompous famiglia and sends it to the two.

Years pass and so does Luce. Aria takes up the mantle, but Ron never goes to see her, not outside of official Arcobaleno business where he's forced to go.

He wanders the mafia world, occasionally the muggle world, and only steps into the wizarding world for funerals.

He's vaguely aware when Reborn takes another student, but doesn't really care, he meets the kid once and is struck how he feels like Harry does.

But that's all that they interact and so he doesn't think about it more.

* * *

Then he gets memories from the Future-That-Never-Was and has to run to the bathroom to throw up. They flash through his head too fast for him to really make sense of them, but he sees enough for it to disturb him. He sees the wizarding world in ashes, old friends lying dead in front of him. A hauntingly familiar figure lying dead in front of him, and the absolute rage that had overcome him at seeing that, because Harry was his darn it! And some no-good mafioso with some weird petty grudge was not how Harry would be taken out.

(Ron doesn't know why he knows this with a certainty, but it lines every fiber of his being, that there is no possible way for Harry to be taken out by this albino freak. And so while the figure lying prone on the ground might not be Harry, the other familiar figures (his family) surrounding him are enough to make Ron unleash everything he has on Byakuran. Flames and magic whip around him and he shows them why he made it into the Strongest, why his strategic mind could be feared, and _destroys _a good portion of Byakuran's army before finally succumbing to the sickness, and how only then did Byakuran show up (Ron still hopes that the albino felt that final castration curse, Hermione could be vicious))

He hesitates then, hand shaking over the phone, tempted, oh, so tempted to pick it up and call someone, but he finally pulls back his hand.

* * *

The Arcobaleno trials are torture.

Ron knows this. Knows that it would be difficult if not downright impossible to find someone to fight for him, but it still stung. He has one person on his side. _One._

But this doesn't feel right, feels as though there must be more to it, but in the end it doesn't matter because he only has one person on his side.

He's staring at his hands, his cursed hands, thinking about he's going to fail, going to _die_, and there's someone at the door.

Looking up, Ron shoots to his feet, even if it doesn't make that much of a difference.

"Harry?" he squeaks out and his best mate, his old Sky, smiles, one of his heartbreaking smiles and simply drops to his knees to gather Ron up in a hug.

His first proper hug in years.

No matter that Harry looks older, but not as old as he should be, he is here, he came.

"How…?"

"Did you know Ron, that I felt those bonds break? And that I tried to fix them? But I became Master of Death and they said I couldn't form bonds with people I wasn't willing to make immortal," Harry murmurs in his ear.

"But that didn't mean I couldn't look out for you."

And with those words, everything changes.

Ron approaches those Trials like he approached one of the Horcruxes. With a fiery hatred that leaves anyone who interacts with him stunned and staring at the sky. Harry is next to him, casting spells and silently supporting Ron, and everyone asks who it is that Ron found, but Ron stays silent.

He's learned to not share important things.

And then Tsuna appears, Tsuna has an _idea _and it's bloody brilliant and Ron and Harry exchange a glance. Ron wants this. Wants out of this body like nothing he has ever wanted before. But he does not want to bring Harry into this. Harry has had enough of this sort of nonsense to last a lifetime. Even if Harry's lifetime is apparently immortal now. He is not introducing his best mate to The Man in the Iron Hat.

And Harry dips his head in acknowledgement, simply escorting Ron to where everyone else has gathered. People ask, they clamor, guns and words flying over each other, but for once in the life that he constructed just for them, he says nothing.

And even though someone asks about who Harry is, Harry has learned tact, and Ron has not survived the Arcobaleno Curse by being a complete idiot, and the two say nothing.

Aria looks and wonders.

Ron shoots a glare and _dares _her to say something.

Tellingly, she does not.

* * *

Then the Curse is broken and Ron is made to stay with the others as the Curse slowly works its' way out of their system.

Ron slowly starts growing again, his lanky form evident even as a small child, only becoming more obvious as he works his way up to being an adult.

He takes great pleasure in the day that he realizes that he is taller than Reborn.

But breaking a curse of such magnitude has drawbacks, and Ron has to take efforts to keep his magic under control.

At least he is not like Harry in that aspect, having magic that simply leaks out of him. But magic is never meant to be bound, to be kept locked away, and so it reacts. It's hard to tell it to knock it off when it reacts so joyously. A simple summoning spell for a mug had resulted in half the cupboard flying towards him, and the resulting crash had brought everyone into the living room to see Ron buried under the dishware.

He casts a patronus in his room and is taken away when it's been changed to an octopus, matching Oodaku. The size needs to be worked on, because the patronus fills his room and Ron barely has room to move because of all the tentacles.

It's a work in progress.

And then comes the day when they can drink again, and sure, they've been drinking throughout the Curse, but it had never been enough. And then they had been told to not drink anything while their bodies are re-adjusting to their proper size.

So it's with a joy that only they could understand that they go to a bar, one who knows who and what they used to be and still are. Aria doesn't come with them, too caught up in her own family troubles and joys and the Arcobaleno can't really decide if they're sad that she isn't bothering to spend time with them or happy because it was Yuni who died for them, who did her best for them, not Aria.

But Ron takes great pleasure in drinking away his troubles. He hasn't seen his family in years, but knows that they wait for him.

A thought crosses his mind that perhaps his mother's clock will no longer say in mortal danger all the time and he snorts at the thought.

He's surrounded by trained killers and partially in the mafia, there's no way his clock hand has moved.

"What's so funny Skull?" and if Colonello's words are slightly slurred, well. The bar is empty and the barman isn't paying them any attention beyond giving them more drinks.

"I'm still in mortal danger, my mum's going to be so pissed," he snickers out, throwing back another drink and then slamming it on the counter. Gesturing for another, he continues, "I bet Harry went and told them the Curse was broken, my mum probably hoped my clock hand would move off of mortal danger. But you're all still super scary!"

Reborn doesn't even bother to make a comment, instead just reaching over and slapping him on the back of his head and sending him forward in his seat.

Across from Ron, Viper has gone still, glass halfway to their mouth and Ron cackles a bit as he casually shoves Reborn in time for the hitman's drink to slosh over his clothes.

Sending him a dark look, Reborn started to reach for his gun but Viper's next word stops him. If only because they make no sense.

"Your mother enchanted clock hands?"

Ron stares blankly at Viper as he wonders how to answer that. Had he made a comment about magic? He doesn't quite remember. His Cloud flames sometimes decided to make it even better when he went drinking so he could get quite drunk pretty fast.

"Errrr, no? I think it was my dad actually." Then he hiccups a bit and his eyebrows furrow as he thinks about his last statement, "Uh, wait no, you don't know about the Statue, so forget I said anything!" he orders, pointing at the others with an unsteady finger.

Most of them have already dismissed it, too caught up in their own worlds as they drink. But Viper has frozen, glass back on the table.

"You have magic?" they whisper finally, hands clenching and unclenching as Skull knocks back another drink.

Thinking hard about that, Ron wonders about the wording, wonders how much he can say before deciding that if nothing else, he can just claim he drank too much.

"Yessir ma'am!" he slurs, using both gender forms because even after this entire time, none of them were certain of Viper's true gender.

It is an absolute shock then that Viper throws back her hood, staring at Ron intently and Ron chokes on his drink, because that is Lavender. Freaking. Brown. staring at him. Her scars which had looked so bad at her funeral, because gosh, they had _buried_ Lavender Brown, had died down to where they were just faint silver lines across her face.

"Lav?" he splutters.

What is his life.

This makes Viper pause even as all the other ex-Arcobaleno start paying attention. Because Viper has never lowered her hood, because Viper is officially a girl, because Viper is his freaking _ex-girlfriend_.

Apparently the Potter luck is contagious and Ron looks at his drink in hand, looks at Viper, looks at the Arcobaleno and throws back the rest of it and stumbles to his feet.

"I am going to go to bed now, because apparently I am now hallucinating things. Goodnight everyone." And no one stops Ron as he makes his way to the door, absolutely lost on what had just happened, and Viper looks poleaxed and no one knows what to do and it's Colonello that eventually just sums it up.

"What just happened?"

But Viper refuses to answer, not bothering to finish her drink before she is stalking after Skull, Flames whipping about her. Skull hasn't managed to make it far, too drunk to use his motorcycle, but he is making headway, his Flames slowly curling about him that signifies that he is currently using them to bring him back to the land of soberness.

It is with no shame that Viper snags his collar and hauls him over to the side of the bar, slamming him against the wall.

"How do you know that name?" she asks him, shaking him just the slightest.

He stares at her and something clicks in his head because he leans his head back and hits it against the wall a couple times, "I thought you were a hallucination." He half-heartedly complains, but at the rage that crosses Viper's face he holds his hands up the slightest, "Bit hard to forget one's ex-girlfriend."

And then it's Viper's turn to stagger away from him, mouth dropping open and staring as her entire world shifts and she stares with the sudden understanding of who Skull is.

"Wha…Ron?" Viper demands, hands clenching and unclenching as she tries to decide what to do. At Skull, no Ron's nod of confirmation, she hesitates for half a second and then punches him in the stomach. Hard.

(She will never admit that the reason it was the stomach and not the face is because Skul…Ron was too tall and she couldn't actually reach his face without him bending over)

Course that's when the other Arcobaleno stumble out, concerned for their two friends. They might never admit that fact out loud, but it didn't change the truth of it. So it's with surprise that they watch Viper plant her fist in his gut, the Cloud crumpling to his knees, arms wrapped around his stomach as he tries to bring air back into his lungs. And then Viper lunges forward and wraps her arms around Skull in a hug. A real, true Tsuna-like hug.

(because Tsuna is the only person that they know who actually hugs people)

And then Viper is sobbing and everyone panics a bit (a lot) and Skull in particularly looks concerned, but there's also a small measure of affection hidden in his eyes (but they all see anyways, it's been too long for them not to be able to read each other so well) and slowly, cautiously, he brings his arms around Viper.

"Why are you not with Harry?" it's barely heard, doesn't make any sense, but Skull seems to understand because his shoulders droop just the slightest.

"Things happened." He offers in explanation, and really, that's not much of an explanation, but Skull says nothing more and it is apparently enough for the Mist user. The two don't move, and the other Arcobaleno exchange concerned glances, waiting a couple minutes and then slowly walking forward. None of them are good at emotions, at showing that they actually care, but they've been around Tsuna, and Tsuna is perhaps the most emotional person they know and so they try to pretend that they are conversing with the Decimo.

Colonello is the best at it, the one the most normal and he wraps his arms around the two still kneeling on the ground. It is a snowball, and then the whole Arcobaleno are in a group hug.

It's…nice.

Surprisingly.

None of them have ever really given affection of any kind, but this…this feels right.

There's still so much to do, so much they need to work through, especially now with this whole thing where apparently Skull and Viper dated at one point, and so many different things.

But they can do it. It will all work out.


End file.
